Definition
A points system is a mechanism for determining eligibility for employment-based immigration. In a points-based immigration system, governments devise a list of attributes or characteristics that they deem important for prospective foreign workers or their employers to possess to receive a temporary, provisional, or permanent visa. Different attributes are assigned a certain number of points, and applicants who earn sufficient points are eligible to apply for a visa. The points system was first introduced in Canada in 1969 and has since been adopted and adapted by several other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark, Austria, and Singapore.
Points systems can take many different forms, some of which have little in common with each other. In the purest version of the points-based immigration model, prospective immigrants apply directly to the relevant government agency and can qualify to migrate on the basis of their personal and human capital...
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References
Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (2012) Skilled independent (subclass 189) visa. Online document. http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/visas/subclass-189/#australian-study-requirements. Accessed 3 June 2016
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Evaluation of the federal skilled worker program. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/research-stats/FSW2010.pdf. Accessed 3 Dec 2012
Papademetriou D, Somerville W, Tanaka T (2008) Hybrid immigrant-selection systems: the next generation of economic migration schemes. Migration Policy Institute, Washington, DC, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/transatlantic/HybridSystems.pdf. Accessed 1 Dec 2012
UK Visas and Immigration (2016) Tier 2 of the Points Based System – Policy Guidance. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/514054/Tier_2_Policy_Guidance_04_2016. Accessed 3 June 2016
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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Sumption, M. (2015). Points-Based Immigration. In: Bean, F., Brown, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Migration. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6179-7_65-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6179-7_65-2
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Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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